Marae polling booth

This meeting house at Te Whāiti in Te Urewera was used as a polling booth in the 1930s. The sign in the window reads 'Polling Booth Whare Pooti'. All Māori men aged 21 and over had been entitled to vote since 1867, when four Māori seats in Parliament were established. From 1893, when women's suffrage was passed, adult Māori women were also able to vote. Such political rights for indigenous people were unusual in 'New World' communities at that time.